The villagers only learned about what had happened at the supply and marketing cooperative after lunch—specifically, that Hu Chunhua had been detained by the police.
The news was spread by Yun Feng after she returned.
She had cooperated with the police investigation, recounting what had happened when Yun Su fell into the sea the day before, and only left the police station after that. By the time she got back to the village, lunchtime was long over.
Before she returned, the villagers had mostly been talking about how Yun Feng had argued with the cooperative staff. Most of them had left the market early and hadn’t witnessed the conflict between Yun Su and Hu Chunhua.
“So, you’re just going to abandon Chunhua like that?” As soon as Yun Feng arrived, she rushed straight into the yard of Yun Su’s house, looking angry.
Yun Su had just finished a bowl of sea coconut and pork leg bone soup. She had bought the pork bones at the meat stall in town—no coupons required. The soup was very nourishing, and after drinking it, Yun Su was in a great mood.
Hearing Yun Feng’s accusation, she replied calmly, “I’m not the one who tried to kill someone. Why should I care?”
After saying this, Yun Su deliberately watched Yun Feng’s expression. When she heard the word “kill,” Yun Feng’s face showed a look of horror. This confirmed what Yun Su had been thinking.
“Yun Feng, dear cousin, that’s your friend, not mine. She wanted to harm me. If you don’t want to help me, your own cousin, that’s fine. But don’t come to my house lecturing me about this. You’ve known who was right and who was wrong all along, haven’t you?”
As soon as she said this, sure enough, Yun Feng’s eyes darted away.
Yun Su knew it would be like this.
She had spent half the night thinking, sorting through everything that had happened since she transmigrated. In the end, she concluded that Yun Feng must have known—or at least suspected—Hu Chunhua’s scheme.
In fact, Yun Su had reason to suspect that Yun Feng had played a role in egging things on.
Otherwise, how would the Hu siblings have had the nerve to target her?
She was a Yun—the dominant surname in the village.
——
“Anyway, what you’re doing is wrong!”
“Who’s wrong?” Before Yun Feng could finish, the brigade leader—whom Yun Su called Old Uncle—walked into the yard with his wife. Seeing her little brother following behind them, the corners of Yun Su’s mouth curved up.
Her little brother was really clever. Seeing Yun Feng show up, he had immediately gone to get reinforcements.
That morning, after she had ridden back with Ji Xiangtian, she had told her eldest brother everything that had happened at the cooperative.
So her eldest brother had immediately gone to Old Uncle to explain the situation and make their family’s stance clear.
Old Uncle was from the same branch of the family. And since the Hu family was clearly in the wrong, he didn’t hesitate to side with his own.
Now, Yun Feng had returned from town, immediately spread the story, and seemed to be siding with outsiders. Seeing this, Old Uncle felt annoyed.
He thought to himself: In previous years, Yun Feng had seemed like a sensible girl. Why was she talking so foolishly today?
“Old Uncle… I… I didn’t say Yun Su was wrong. It’s just that the Hu family is from the same village as us. If we go running to the police over every disagreement, it’s really not good for village unity.”
Villagers generally stuck together. When they went out to fish, all the men of the village went together. So Yun Feng tried to shift the argument in that direction.
“Hmph! You don’t need to worry about that. The Hu family has been causing trouble. I was going to penalize them yesterday. As for today’s incident, I heard that Hu Chunhua’s filthy mouth started it.”
“Feng girl, where have you been all morning? Instead of going home, why did you come to your third uncle’s house?”
Second Uncle appeared out of nowhere and said this as soon as he arrived.
The neighbors who had gathered to see what was going on chimed in, “Exactly, exactly. We’re all Yuns. Don’t side with outsiders. Hu Chunhua was the one who did wrong first. You’re a good girl, don’t get mixed up in this.”
——
Listening to everyone’s attempts to persuade her, Yun Feng couldn’t understand why they were being so unreasonable.
The Hu family were also from the same village! And it wasn’t even a big deal.
Chunhua’s brother couldn’t find a wife. Just then, word came from the neighboring production brigade about that good-for-nothing getting a wife. So Chunhua got the idea to use that method to set up her brother with Yun Su. And since yesterday happened to be the day Comrade Gu regularly came to the village to get medicine from Old Hu, Yun Feng had hinted to Chunhua to make her move yesterday.
Yun Su didn’t know how to do housework, didn’t know how to dry seafood or mend fishing nets. Marrying into Chunhua’s family, she would be well taken care of. Chunhua’s mother was very diligent!
She had already decided: if Hu Chunhua actually went through with it, she would definitely go save Yun Su.
In fact, the moment Yun Su fell into the sea, she had jumped in right away to rescue her.
She had worked so hard, wasn’t it all for everyone’s good?
Hu Chunhua pushed Yun Su into the sea to create an opportunity for her brother.
She herself wanted to impress Comrade Gu by being the one to save Yun Su.
Yes, Yun Su would fall into the sea—but she would be there to save her!
This drowning incident would benefit all three parties. No one would lose anything!
A whole day had passed. Why was Yun Su now digging up old grievances? Yun Feng simply couldn’t understand it.
If Yun Su had known what Yun Feng was thinking at that moment, she would have spat a few times in disgust.
Listen to her, just listen to her. What utter nonsense!
So, in the end, Yun Feng sees herself as some great benefactor creating a win-win situation for everyone!
If she hadn’t transmigrated, the original Yun Su would have lived out that miserable cannon fodder life from the book.
Meanwhile, Yun Feng would have launched her own bright new future by being the hero who saved someone.
Even though Yun Su didn’t know exactly what was going through Yun Feng’s mind, seeing her aggrieved expression now only confirmed her initial suspicion.
That was, the drowning incident yesterday was definitely connected to Yun Feng.
Unfortunately, she had no evidence and couldn’t take any action for now. But Yun Su had already taken out her little notebook and secretly jotted down the “good deeds” Yun Feng had done. She would wait for the right opportunity to teach her a lesson.
——
The brigade leader had said what he needed to say. He stopped paying attention to Yun Feng and turned to look at Yun Su instead.
“Su girl, how do you want to resolve the Hu family matter?”
Yun Su replied, “Old Uncle, that’s up to the police comrades. However they handle it, that’s how it should be. I’ll abide by whatever decision they make.”
The brigade leader was very satisfied with this answer. Since the incident had occurred, it needed to be handled properly.
“For the next few days, I’ll go to the police station to follow up on this. If you don’t have any reason to, stay away from the end of the village.”
The Hu family lived at the end of the village. They were bullies at home but cowards outside. The brigade leader wasn’t afraid of them, but he was worried they might use some dirty trick against a young girl like Su girl.
“Old Uncle, don’t worry. Fu Zai and I will both protect Su Su.”
“That’s right, that’s right! I’ll protect my sister.”
Yun Huaifu had heard a lot over the past two days. Hearing Old Uncle’s words, he puffed out his chest and promised to protect his sister.
The neighbors also chimed in, saying they would help keep an eye on things.
Everyone in this area was surnamed Yun. The men usually went fishing together at sea, the women dried seafood and mended fishing nets together. Their bonds were strong.
——
Yun Su was very grateful for everyone’s concern. After seeing Old Uncle off, she said to her brothers, “I’m really lucky.”
“Ah, that Yun Feng girl. In the past, she seemed quite sensible and capable. Why would she side with the Hu family this time?”
Yun Huaimin was born the same year as Yun Feng, just a few months older. Before their sister Yun Su was born, Yun Huaimin had really liked Yun Feng. She was the first girl born among his father’s three brothers.
His eldest uncle, Yun Chenghai, who lived in the commune, only had three sons. And after marrying, he lived in the commune and didn’t interact much with their family.
Second Uncle’s family lived across from them. When they were young, he and Yun Feng used to play at each other’s houses a lot. But later, Second Uncle’s family had many more children, and Second Aunt became more and more calculating. His own younger siblings were also born. Eventually, the visits became less frequent.
Now that his own sister had run into trouble like this, not only did Yun Feng not side with their family, but at the very least, she shouldn’t be speaking up for the Hu family!
Seeing her big brother’s confusion, Yun Su laughed. “Big brother, no matter how sensible she is, she’s not family.”
Besides, Yun Feng’s “sensibleness” was always deployed at the most “convenient” times.
Even though she had only known Yun Feng for a day and a half, Yun Su had roughly figured out her game.
In short, she was a refined egoist.
“Anyway, if Yun Feng comes to our house from now on, don’t let her into my room.”
In her memories, Yun Feng treated their house like her own. The original Yun Su had a harmonious family, decent circumstances, and good grades, yet she had no close friends at all.
The person she interacted with most was Yun Feng, and Yun Feng’s friends.
This discovery was truly shocking.
——
“Sister, don’t worry. I’ll keep a good eye on the house!” Fu Zai once again puffed out his chest to assure his sister.
His head-up, chest-out pose was hilarious.
“You don’t need to guard the house. It’s summer vacation now, so you can stay home. But come September when school starts, you need to study hard.”
At the mention of studying, Fu Zai wailed. “Ah, I don’t want to study. After I graduate, I’m just coming home to fish.”
Hearing this, Yun Su sighed too.
She had graduated from high school at the beginning of the month—just a few days ago. She was also unemployed right now.
Tomorrow, fishing season would open. Her big brother would have to go out on the boat to work. Her parents would probably be back in a day or two. She would need to find herself something to do.
Girls in fishing villages didn’t have to work in the fields, but they did have to spend every day at the drying grounds, spreading out various seafood to dry.
Of all the jobs in the production brigade, the most leisurely was probably the seafood packaging and weighing group.
She could do that job. Yun Su decided to go talk to Old Uncle tomorrow and see if she could get into the weighing group.
As for staying home, eating and doing nothing—well, that was actually possible too. Her memories told her that her parents doted on her and wouldn’t want her working under the hot sun.
But Yun Su really didn’t feel comfortable being lazy.
After going to town today, she had not only had breakfast but also scouted out all the possible job opportunities.
Of course, there were none.
If she wanted a job, her options were, first, to find work near the military area—but those jobs were reserved for military wives.
Second, she could try the seafood processing plant on the island. But that factory only hired urban residents. During busy seasons, they might hire some temporary workers with rural household registration, but those temps had to be tall, strong, and able to do heavy physical labor.
Yun Su looked down at her own slender, pale fingers and shook her head helplessly.
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